A few weeks ago when I was headed out to Maryland I snapped a photo of this sign just beyond the security checkpoint at Hector International Airport.  For some reason it just struck me as amusing.  I have never before in my travels seen a "composure area" sign.  In all the other places there are a few chairs lined up and a table and folks just know that they are to compose themselves there…but in Fargo we go the extra mile.  In Fargo, we have an actual sign that designates our area. 

I would not mind having a sign like this with me as I go about my day-to-day life.  It would be nice to have a designated place to compose your thoughts and feelings (and maybe even your clothes and belongings)…a place where the only function was composure.  Absent such a designated place we are all left to compose ourselves on the fly.  I can see great utility for such a sign where folks regularly lose their composure (places where customer service is lacking or frustration is high – like outside my office when grades are assigned).  Frazzled folks could be directed to the composure area until they had composed themselves – sort of an adults’ time-out.  It would hopefully have the effect of normalizing the state of composure.

Tonight I lost my composure when Qwest lost service in my area and I was sans internet.  I sure could have used a composure area during that time…alas, without one I just fell into a state of frustration and angst.  Luckily Qwest remedied the problem and I was able to pull up my photo of this sign as a reminder that composure is but a designated composure area away.

The next time you are at Hector International Airport take a moment in the composure area and know that the world would be a better place if it had more designated composure areas.  If only regaining our composure was always as easily handled as putting a sign out. 😉

Day three hundred and sixty-seven of the new forty – obla di obla da

Ms. C